Wentworth Laboratories' Saber Probe represents a breakthrough in vertical, contact technology, delivering a combination of performance benefits including finer pitch, greater current carrying capability, more uniform gram force, longer life and lower cost of ownership, that are simply unattainable with any other vertical technology available today.
Together these performance benefits meet the most demanding challenges currently encountered in wafer-level test, addressing "worst case" process corners to enable next-generation technology.
The Saber Difference
The patent-pending Saber Probe is made possible through the use of photolithographic manufacturing technology that produces a probe with a more streamline profile for tighter pitches, and a rectangular-shaped cross section for greater current carrying capability, as compared to conventional vertical probes. This new streamline design enables a standard pitch capability of 142 micron, while delivering 1000 mA of current @ 2 min pulse, @ 25°C. The result? More probe in less space and the ideal vertical contact solution for tight pitch, high power test applications. (See reverse side for array comparison illustration.)
The Saber manufacturing process also results in greater probe uniformity for less variation in gram force and more balanced contact force across the array, which is particularly important in applications involving inter layer dielectrics (ILDs) and high pin count devices. Finally, since the Saber manufacturing process does not involve mechanical processing, |
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the Saber probe is free of the stresses caused by mechanical manufacturing, resulting in better overall performance and longer life. Extensive product characterization involving current carrying capability, pitch,"tunable" gram force, inductance and life performance has been conducted on Saber with results available upon request.
Saber Cost of Ownership
Saber customers benefit from the economies of scale afforded by batch, photolithographic processing, which allows many probes to be created at once. Also, since Saber manufacturing involves no hard tooling, design changes can be easily, quickly and economically implemented.
Saber Quality
Throughout its manufacture, the Saber Probe is exposed to minimal manual handling, and inspection is fully automated using the latest in optical inspection techniques. This automation minimizes human error and ensures that every Saber Probe meets quality standards for precise geometry, for enhanced performance that translates into more precise wafer level test. |
